LUMINEERS BEFORE AFTER

Lumineers or all veneers are porcelain facings that are bonded to the fronts of teeth to help block out stains, make teeth look straighter, and achieve a very high level of esthetics in a very short period of time. Usually just 2 appointments.

One appointment to prepare (if necessary) the teeth and take impressions, and a follow up appointment to bond the veneers to the teeth.

They can often be made very thin and preserve as much natural tooth structure as possible, but they are translucent, so if the teeth have very dark stains, they will need to be made a bit thicker in order to block out the dark tooth underneath.

For example, if you want are painting a wall in your house white, if you start with a yellow wall it will require less coats of paint than if you started with a black wall. Makes sense?

Tetracycline and other Stains:

The top photo to the left is a person who has tetracycline staining. This is an intrinsic stain, that was caused by the person taking tetracycline, which is an antibiotic, as a child while the teeth were developing.

The next two photos show Lumineers before after photos, of other stained teeth, and teeth did not respond as well to whitening as the person was hoping for.

The person on the left had braces and when the braces were removed, the teeth were severely stained and decalcified. These stains also would not bleach out via tooth whitening.

Whitening also can cause sensitivity, and since Lumineers are placed directly over teeth, they do not have the same symptoms.

ROOT CANALED DARKENED TEETH:

This person's front two teeth were darker than the others, due to trauma. The teeth had root canals and did not get whiter via bleaching. Lumineers were done on the front 8 teeth to achieve a very nice result.

HEAVILY STAINED TEETH THAT COULD NOT BE WHITENED:

WHITENING NOT GOOD ENOUGH?

The top photo is of teeth that were whitened. The lower photo has lumineers placed to achieve even whiter results.

Smile Makeovers:

The following photos are also Lumineer before after photos of people who wanted a smile makeover.

CHIPPED TEETH:

This photo shows a person who had chipped front teeth. As above, the teeth could have had bonded fillings, but those often break and have to be replaced periodically.

The Lumineers were done with no numbing, no preparation, no temporary veneers, and were bonded directly to the existing teeth.

DISCOLORED CROWN:

Similar to the photo above, the photo to the right shows a person who was dissatisfied with the existing crown . The gums have receded and the black margin of the crown is showing.

This person had Lumineers bonded directly to the existing crowns and look at the improvement. That is correct, the crown was not removed, and the Lumineer was bonded directly to the porcelain.

INSTANT ORTHODONTICS:

The photo to the right shows Lumineers before after photos of a person who had crooked teeth, and could have used braces.

Many people do not want to wear braces, so Lumineers were done to achieve a more desireable result.

Minimal preparation is sometimes done in cases like this, but always without numbing.

DISCOLORED FILLINGS:

The photo to the right shows a Lumineers before after photo of a person who had a chipped front tooth, that had been filled over and over again, but it kept breaking.

Finally the person opted to have Lumineers done, and will not have to keep having to have that front filling redone. As you can see, it also looks a lot better without the staining along the lines of where the filling was placed.

Filling Gaps or Spaces:

The following photos show people who had spaces or smaller teeth. The top photos show the teeth with the existing spaces, the lower photos show how they were closed with Lumineers.

More filling of gaps...

SNAP ON SMILE: Intrinsic Staining:

Heavily stained teeth can be covered with Snap On Smile, as seen below. Snap on smile is a removable plastic type material that covers all of your teeth. It is not intended for long term use, and if used regularly needs to be replaced every 3-5 years. It can help you achieve the smile you want without the price of Lumineers or veneers.

You can eat with them, but they will take some getting used to since they do cover all of your teeth.

Tooth Replacement:

Snap On Smile can be used to replace teeth, similar to other partial dentures. The following 2 sets of photos illustrate the difference. As you can see, there is no metal and no clasp assembly.

Cosmetic Smile Enhancement:

Snap On Smile can also be used to enhance your smile. You can eat with it and it does not change your bite, so it can be used to preview what you could look like with Lumineers or veneers.